Le Mans 2011: The Chevy Corvette Faces Its Toughest Challenge Yet

Located 90 minutes outside of Paris via high-speed rail, Circuit de la Sarthe is home to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, firing up this weekend. In this day-long torture test of incredible machines, we're watching the sole American entry: the Chevy Corvette that's trying to beat the big boys of Europe. Check out our photos from Le Mans here, and keep up with the action at Michelin Alley.

24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans holds a special place in the world of motorsports. The Circuit de la Sarthe is so huge that it easily accommodates up 300,000 spectators from across Europe. The atmosphere is carnival-like, but the bread, cheese and wine is superior (akin to eating bratwurst at Road America). The rivalries and history are what make the action so special at Le Mans. In the 1920s, it was Bentley versus Bugatti versus Alfa Romeo. Jumping to the 1960s, it was Ford versus Ferrari. Porsche dominated the 1970s, fending off challenges from Renault and Matra-Simca. Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Mazda duked it out through the '80s and early '90s, with McClaren and Panoz shaking things up after that.

This year, we're watching the Chevy Corvette, because this will surely be the American car's toughest challenge to win at Le Mans. While Chevy's fiberglass race car has won six times since 2001, those victories came in the lightly contested GT1/GTS class. Now the brand has switched classes to the GTE Pro division (formerly GT2), where many of the world's top sports-car manufactures run. The sole American entry will compete with the Ferrari 458 Italia, Porsche 911, BMW M3 and Aston Martin Vantage. The two Corvettes entered qualified fourth and sixth, but as with any 24-hour race, reliability often trumps outright speed.

In addition to the sports-car battles, the top LMP1 division should be thrilling as well, with Peugeot and Audi set to lock horns with competing diesel-powered cars. In the past two years, Peugeot has had the faster car, but Audi has returned with a new car that appears exceedingly quick (it won the pole position).

Rule Changes

Rule Changes

Rules changes and advancing technology keep the battles unpredictable. The following pages point you toward this weekend's excitement. A robust field of more than 50 cars is expected to make the grid Saturday afternoon. LMP1, LMP2 (prototype classes) and various GTE Pro and GTE Am production-based contenders take to the circuit's 8.47-mile course at 3:00 pm Paris time Saturday.

Even with a chicane installed in 1990, LMP1 prototypes routinely accelerate to more than 200 mph on the long Mulsanne Straight. Prior to 1990, speeds approached 250 mph.